Sonal Patel
Articles By

Sonal Patel

  • POWERnews—Jan. 4, 2024

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   January 4, 2024 Vineyard Wind Delivers First Power to New England Grid Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) and Avangrid said the Vineyard Wind 1 offshore wind installation sent electricity to the power grid for the first time late on Jan. 2. The companies… […]

  • Green Light for Second Geothermal Power Project in Kenya’s Menengai Field

    Independent power company Globeleq and Kenya’s state-owned Geothermal Development Co. (GDC) are readying to launch construction of the 35-MW Menengai II geothermal project in Kenya’s Nakuru County. When completed in 2025, the power project will become the second to come online in the wider Menengai complex in Kenya’s geothermal-rich Rift Valley region. Globeleq and GDC […]

  • DOE Awards Civil Nuclear Credits to Diablo Canyon

    The Department of Energy (DOE) will award credits under its Civil Nuclear Credit (CNC) program to bolster the continued operation of Diablo Canyon Power Plant (DCPP) Units 1 and 2, Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s (PG&E’s) 2,240-MW nuclear plant in San Luis Obispo County, California. A record of decision published by the agency’s Grid Deployment Office on […]

  • A Multi-Dimensional Crisis: Six Global Power Sector Trends to Watch

    Fifty years after the first global oil shock in 1973, the world’s energy sector is again facing high geopolitical tensions and uncertainty—though this time around, “pressures are coming from multiple

  • Capturing Progress: The State of CCS in the Power Sector

    The growing urgency to address climate change by policymakers, industry, and investors appears to have reinvigorated carbon capture and storage (CCS) deployment. More than 50 CCS facilities at power plants are

  • POWERnews—Dec. 28, 2023

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   December 28, 2023 POWER’s Top 5 Posts from 2023 POWER magazine’s website gets millions of pageviews every year. Looking over the stats from 2023, the following five articles were the most-viewed by our audience, which includes many power industry… 2023: A Transformative […]

  • Treasury’s Proposed Clean Hydrogen PTC Rule Disappoints Power Industry

    The Department of the Treasury has released proposed regulations and guidance defining a tax credit for the production of “clean hydrogen,” a significant supply-side incentive that is part of the Biden administration’s larger climate-driven policy framework. But though long-awaited, the measure has stirred up strong disappointment from the power industry. If finalized, the Treasury Department’s […]

  • FERC Approves CAISO Day-Ahead Market Enhancements, EDAM Proposals

    The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has unanimously approved the California Independent System Operator’s (CAISO’s) Day-Ahead Market Enhancements (DAME) and Extended Day-Ahead Market (EDAM) proposal, effectively allowing new market options to address challenges caused by increasing system variability and uncertainty in the West. FERC’s decision issued on Dec. 20, for the most part, accepts CAISO’s […]

  • POWERnews—Dec. 21, 2023

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   December 21, 2023 A Coal Refuse Power Plant Is Pioneering an AI-Driven Overhaul An iconic coal refuse power plant in West Virginia that burns gob—basically dirt—and pond fines as part of a complex environmental solution to address coal waste is stepping up […]

  • Siemens Energy Poised to Partner with Oklo on Aurora Nuclear Reactor

    Siemens Energy may be poised to become a crucial equipment and consulting partner for Oklo’s Aurora powerhouse, a liquid metal-cooled fast nuclear reactor. A memorandum of understanding (MOU) Oklo unveiled on Dec. 19 designates Siemens Energy to become Oklo’s potentially preferred supplier for the rotating equipment in the conventional island of the Aurora powerhouse, including […]

  • Seven European Countries Set Ambitious But ‘Necessary’ Target to Decarbonize Power System by 2035

    The seven European countries that make up the Pentalateral Energy Forum—Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Switzerland—will strive for the decarbonization of their interconnected electricity system by 2035. The countries, which form the Pentalateral Energy Forum—a 2005-convened voluntary framework for regional energy cooperation—in a joint statement on Dec. 18 formally concluded, “timely decarbonization […]

  • A Coal Refuse Power Plant Is Pioneering an AI-Driven Overhaul

    An iconic coal refuse power plant in West Virginia that burns gob—basically dirt—and pond fines as part of a complex environmental solution to address coal waste is stepping up efforts to improve its efficiency, reliability, and cost reductions by embracing cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI). American Bituminous Power’s (AMBIT’s) 80-MW Grant Town Power Project—West Virginia’s only […]

  • POWERnews—Dec. 14, 2023

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   December 14, 2023 Kairos' Hermes Secures First NRC Green Light for Advanced Nuclear Non-LWR Reactor The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has approved a construction permit for Kairos Power’s 35-MWth Hermes molten salt “non-power” demonstration reactor, which the firm has proposed to build […]

  • COP28 Concludes with Landmark Decision to Shift Away from Fossil Fuels

    Negotiators from nearly every country in the world closed COP28 with a decision that—for the first time—formally recognizes the necessity of moving away from fossil fuels to achieve Paris Agreement targets. The decision, adopted on the last day of the two-week 28th Conference of the Parties (COP 28) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate […]

  • Kairos’ Hermes Secures First NRC Green Light for Advanced Nuclear Non-LWR Reactor

    The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has approved a construction permit for Kairos Power’s 35-MWth Hermes molten salt “non-power” demonstration reactor, which the firm has proposed to build at the East Tennessee Technology Park Heritage Center (ETTP) site in Oak Ridge. The NRC on Dec. 12 directed staff to issue the construction permit for the test reactor […]

  • POWERnews—Dec. 7, 2023

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   December 7, 2023 Impressive Milestones Achieved on Chinese Advanced Nuclear Power Projects China National Nuclear Corp. (CNNC) announced on Dec. 6 that China’s independently developed high-temperature gas-cooled modular pebble bed (HTR-PM) reactor demonstrator had commenced commercial operation. The HTR-PM project was constructed… […]

  • Report: Power Sector Supply Chain Dependent on Adversaries

    An estimated 90% of software products used to manage the U.S. power grid contains code “contributions” from Russian or Chinese developers. The finding from cyber risk management solution firm Fortress Information Security highlights new supply chain gaps and points to a dire need for more robust strategies to safeguard against insidious threats that lurk in […]

  • The Big Picture: A U.S. Hydropower Profile (Infographic)

    The U.S. conventional hydropower fleet includes 2,252 hydropower plants with a total generating capacity of 80.58 GW, which produced 6.2% of the country’s electricity in 2022 and nearly 30% of all renewable generation. In addition, it has 43 pumped-storage hydro (PSH) plants, a combined capacity of 22 GW, and an estimated energy storage capacity of 553 […]

  • Nuclear’s Glimmer Ushers in Spate of Lifetime Extensions

    Despite its ongoing war with Russia, Ukraine in early November gave state nuclear operator Energoatom the green light to operate Unit 1 of the South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant for 10 more years. The approval

  • What’s New in Coal Power Innovation?

    Despite a dismal outlook for coal, countries with substantial coal fleets are intensifying efforts to develop new technologies and operational capabilities to improve coal power’s environmental impact

  • World Bank Approves $1B Loan to Advance South Africa’s Power Sector Reforms

    The World Bank on Oct. 25 granted South Africa a $1 billion developmental policy loan (DPL) as a significant measure to help the country address its debilitating energy crisis, and encourage it to transition

  • POWERnews—Nov. 30, 2023

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   November 30, 2023 Westinghouse Secures First Customer for eVinci Nuclear Microreactor Westinghouse’s first customer for its eVinci microreactor—a flagship 5-MWe/13-MWth “nuclear battery”—is poised to be the Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC), Canada’s second-largest research and technology organization. SRC—a Saskatchewan government Treasury Board… How […]

  • Innovative Enhanced Geothermal System Begins Operations in Nevada

    A pioneering 3.5-MW enhanced geothermal system (EGS) in northern Nevada that demonstrated the ability to drill, complete, and operate horizontal wells is now operational. Project Red, co-developed by Fervo Energy and Google under a partnership forged in 2021 under the “world’s first corporate agreement to develop an enhanced geothermal power project,” is supplying power to […]

  • MHI, Mitsubishi Power Report Breakthroughs for Hydrogen Combustion, Ammonia Burners

    Mitsubishi Power has successfully demonstrated partial load and full load combustion of a fuel blend with 30% hydrogen (by volume) in a grid-connected J-series Air-Cooled (JAC) gas turbine. The achievement closely follows the completion of a combustion test on an ammonia single-fuel burner for coal firing by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), Mitsubishi Power’s parent company. […]

  • Westinghouse Secures First Customer for eVinci Nuclear Microreactor

    Westinghouse’s first customer for its eVinci microreactor—a flagship 5-MWe/13-MWth “nuclear battery”—is poised to be the Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC), Canada’s second-largest research and technology organization. SRC—a Saskatchewan government Treasury Board Crown Corporation that serves as a commercial laboratory to provide research and development (R&D) for Saskatchewan industries—on Nov. 27 said it plans to pilot an […]

  • POWERnews—Nov. 22, 2023

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   November 22, 2023 NRG Energy Replaces CEO in Activist Investor–Influenced Shuffle NRG Energy has appointed the chair of its board of directors, Dr. Lawrence Coben, as its interim president and CEO and appointed four new independent directors to its board, signaling a… Sponsored […]

  • NRG Energy Replaces CEO in Activist Investor–Influenced Shuffle

    NRG Energy has appointed the chair of its board of directors, Dr. Lawrence Coben, as its interim president and CEO and appointed four new independent directors to its board, signaling a major leadership reshuffle partly influenced by activist investor firm Elliott Investment Management. The Houston-headquartered energy giant on Nov. 20 said Mauricio Gutierrez, NRG’s long-time and […]

  • INL Achieves Fabrication of Commercial-Grade Specialized Nuclear Fuel Pellets

    Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has fabricated roughly two dozen commercial-grade fuel pellets of high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) uranium dioxide (UO2), the Department of Energy (DOE) revealed on Nov. 20. The milestone demonstrates the national laboratory’s “unique ability” to provide customized nuclear fuel for industry and government partners, the DOE said. INL said researchers at the […]

  • Transformative, Next-Gen Grid Control Technologies Get $42M in Federal Funding

    The Department of Energy (DOE) has initiated a new “enabling” pathway to achieve and sustain a dramatic transformation of the nation’s evolving grid—through its power electronics fabric, with the realization of advanced semiconductor materials, devices, and power module technologies. The agency on Nov. 21 unveiled the agency’s first awards—$42 million for 15 projects across 11 […]

  • POWERnews—Nov. 16, 2023

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   November 16, 2023 Pioneering Hydrogen-Powered Gas Peaking: Inside Duke Energy’s DeBary Project In late 2024, a first-of-a-kind, fully functional project spearheaded by Duke Energy, GE Vernova, and Sargent and Lundy could begin demonstrating commercial peaking capabilities of an integrated hydrogen power-to-power system… […]